Survivor 42, Episode 4 "Vibe of the Tribe" Gameplay Analysis

 "Do better, y'all."

-Maryanne Oketch

This episode was a pretty average episode of Survivor.  Totally fine, but nothing too spectacular.  Or at least it would have been if the editors hadn't spoiled the outcome by showing who wasn't going home!  Any tension this episode would have had was killed by sloppy editors and I'm not happy about it.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, good for you.  I'm jealous.  Anyway, let's take a look at who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

We'll start over on Ika with Tori.  She should have been the one to go home in this episode and she didn't.  She made plenty of maneuvers in her tribe, with various success, but managed to get off the bottom of the tribe and survive.

Moving over to Vati, we have Chanelle, who came back into camp after Tribal Council and threw Daniel right under the bus by destroying his credibility and his relationship with Mike.  She and Lydia also had a very nice comeback at the puzzle during the Immunity Challenge and just barely avoided Tribal Council.

Hai and Mike both saw their games go up in smoke during the previous episode.  They were on opposite sides, but now they've bridged the gap and built a new alliance.  I can see them going very far.

Who Sucked:

Going back to Ika, I think both Drea and Romeo made the wrong move in getting rid of Swathi over Tori.  Yes, you can't trust either of them, but Tori knows she is on the bottom and that makes her much more of a wildcard.  Swathi does not know you are onto her, so you could use her and take her out next time.  I think they kept a much more dangerous player in the game.  Not to mention they seem to have left Rocksroy on the outs, which might make him rethink their alliance.  Also, Drea was the one who dropped the puzzle causing them to lose the Immunity Challenge.

Rocksroy continues to have a terrible social game and seems to annoy everyone on his tribe.  He isn't flexible enough in any aspect of this game.  He was also on the wrong side of the vote.  I'm not sure if he was left out or simply refused to vote for Swathi, but either way it was bad.

Going over to Taku, Jonathan may have been a beast in the challenges, but he did reveal just how close the Taku tribe is and the other tribes may target the Taku 4 come the merge.

Back on Vati, we have my winner pick, Daniel, who just continued to dig his grave even deeper by refusing to talk about the vote after Tribal Council and allowing Chanelle to paint him in an even worse light.

As for Lindsay, Maryanne, and Omar, we really didn't enough of them either way.

Swathi should not have been the person to go home, but I think she showed her youth in how she played the game.  Give her a few more years and she could be great at Survivor.  You can't use the exact same turn of phrase when making conflicting alliances.  If they compare notes, you could be doomed.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Chanelle Howell for throwing Daniel under the bus and her performance at the Immunity Challenge.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Rocksroy Bailey for his terrible social game and ending up on the wrong side of the vote.

I really hope the moment that was spoiled for me finally happens in the next episode.  The further we go along, the worse of a screw-up it is.